Gardening, Take 1

A couple of weeks ago, Cayne put together a 4x4 raised bed garden for us to try to grow some of our own vegetables this summer.  I planted seeds last week and we were excited to see some green leaves sprouting through the topsoil so soon!  We planted tomatoes, red potatoes, broccoli, cantaloupe, zucchini, lettuce, and carrots.  We also have some barrel planters where I've put some herb seeds (oregano, cilantro, basil, rosemary, parsley, and tarragon) -- those haven't sprouted yet though.  We hope to have some delicious vegetables to put with our CSA vegetables this summer!

We're going to have to thin our some of these seedlings soon!

Our herb barrels

I also bought a bunch of mulch at Lowe's when it was on sale 4 bags for $10 to finally try to make our front landscaping beds look decent (they've been neglected for a couple of years, I think).  Cayne started with trimming some of the shrubs in the front and I finished the job (trying to make the bushes look nice and round -- it's harder than I thought it would be!).  Then I weeded and added our new mulch.  So far, I've only done one bed -- I'm waiting for Cayne the edge the other ones before adding the mulch with his new birthday present (the Stihl Trimmer)...and I ran into an ant nest while weeding one of the beds so I have to finish that up as well.  However, the one bed I did finish (the main one in front of the house) looks awesome compared to how it looked when we moved in!  Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the mulch really will keep those weeds down all summer long.

The finished bed.

This makes the house look so much better!

A view of our house from the street.

This is the bed that still needs edging, mulch, and a little more weeding.

A little much will make a big difference here
 (and Cayne needs to trim that holly bush -- it's too tall for me!).